Sports. Honestly. Since 2011

Martinsville Shocker from A.J. Allmendinger

Well now that the paper clip shaped track in Martinsville is quiet and the results are in we see some typical and surprising finishes.  The oh so typical this year has been watching Kyle Busch win in the lower tiers of big time racing, and we saw him win his first truck race of the season.  Then he was able to beat the big boys in the Sprint Cup sSries picking up his second clock of the weekend.  But with the oh so typical came some shocking results as well.  That being A.J. Allmendinger coming in 2nd on Sunday.

Martinsville Shocker from A.J. Allmendinger

A.J. Allmendinger is known around the garage as a very like able high energy guy, but he’s not known as a dominant driver.  He has a very extensive racing background from his beginnings in go karts to his Indy racing to finally switching to stock cars.  He made the move to full bodied race cars in 2006 and its been a struggle.  He did win in 2014 at the road course at Watkins Glen, but he would be the first to admit that he figured stronger finishes would be fairly routine, but it hasn’t happened.

It has been seen in NASCAR that drivers coming from open wheel seem to have a more difficult transition then say drivers coming from the dirt tracks.  I’m not sure why this is the case but the step from Indy cars to Sprint cars seems so steep. While most drivers in NASCAR do reasonably well at the road courses, it is the open wheel guys that seem to shine. The unfortunate thing for them is there is only two road courses per year in Sprint cup.

Now racing for a single car team that has a considerably lower budget is a definite disadvantage but you won’t see a frown on Allmendinger’s face, he is always smiling and laughing and maybe just waiting for the next road course to shine.

Main Photo:

Share:

More Posts

Send Us A Message